Okay, maybe mostly about the crafting.
Knitting, spinning, scrapbooking,
my attempts to remember how to crochet
...whatever has my attention right now.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Holy Long Time Between Updates, Batman!

Since it's been almost two months (?!?!) since my last post, a step my step recap would take ages. Instead I'm just going to throw it all out herein one big post of "can't this girl finish anything?!"

That's right, I've fallen off the finished-object wagon, and am wasting my time away in work-in-progress land. At least Candy Crush has managed to frustrate me enough that I've stepped away from playing it endlessly. That's something, right?

Okay, first up is knitting. Since my last post I have finished ... Well ... Nothing.

Oops? I could blame the spinning, but really that is only half the problem. The other half is that I KEEP STARTING NEW THINGS.

I have the perfect yarn and the perfect pattern for so many projects, that I just want to make them all at once! In fact, instead of finishing anything, I cast on for three new things. One of them another cardi ... because that's a quick project.

Since I have a few projects that should have been quick finishers (I'm looking at you, Swiffer cover!), I'm banned from casting on anything new until I have finished a couple of them.

I tried to tell myself that earlier, but then there was an "unappreciated pattern KAL" in the fingerless gloves group. I had my super-special yarn I'd been hoarding saving and an awesome (but sadly unappreciated) pattern already picked out for it. I figured that made a good enough excuse reason why I should get to cast on one more thing.

I'm very nearly done with the first one, and this is one of those great projects where it both looks and fits exactly how I'd hoped. I'm knitting the longest version, in a size M/L. The only adjustment I've made to the pattern is to switch from size 1s to size 0 at the wrist to ensure a tighter fit on my hands.

Of course I'm still spinning, still loving it. Warming up for the Tour de Fleece.

I also had a brief moment of madness where I thought the 8oz of roving I got from Paradise Fibers might not be enough to keep me busy, and so I went in search of new fluffs. I found a dyer here in my home state, Edgewood Garden Studios, who has beautiful colors at really reasonable prices. I ended up buying two.

First, Corriedale in a colorway she calls Brisk Autumn -

Normally I am not a fan of yellows and oranges, but the colors grabbed my attention, and I kept going back to look at the listing. Finally I just went for it, and I'm glad I did. The fiber looked even better in person, and I can't wait to spin this. I'm thinking of a two ply 'barber pole' look to the yarn, then knit into a nice cozy cowl for fall.

Te other was Wensleydale in the Rags to Riches Colorway.

Again, it totally caught my eye. I've never spun with this kind of fiber before, so I'm not sure what to expect my yarn will end up like. I'm excited to see though.

I finally spun up the ounce of alpaca I was given last June, and ended up with a single of about 70 yards. Really pretty yarn, if I do say so myself -

I had been a little worried about spinning it all dusty. I had heard it would make the fibers grip better (which I'm sure was right) but during the was process I had a worry that it couldn't possibly come clean enough. Luckily, I worried for nothing and it ended up soft, clean and beautiful. Below on the left are the picures from before the wash, and on the right are the shots after when it was starting to dry out.

The one thing this taught me is that I am spoiled by my prepared fiber, and that I do not have the tools or time (or patience) to switch to entirely raw fiber right now.

I have also spun some of that (blessedly already clean/processed) Shetland wool. I have one single of about 275 yards done. It is the most I've gotten in one skein, and probably will stay close to that, because that bobbin was overfilled!

I'm working on a second skein of the same, but I'm not quite finished spinning. Here it is, still on the wheel -

Once that's done, I have the last of my Merino/Tencel from Greenwood Fiberworks that I want to ply together. Here's (an admittedly bad pic of) the singles -

I'm trying to work more on my plying, because as much as some yarn looks great as singles, I really like the look of handspun plied. I like to think I've made a bit of progress, and that even the Navajo ply I do looks pretty decent.

I set some BFL two ply I spun on my spindle just a year ago (left) next to my most recent N-Ply attempt using the wheel with the same fiber (right)

There is definitely a difference! I am happy with how far I've come and curious to see how much different my spinning will look after another year.

That's about all for now. I need to get back to knitting as I scramble to make progress on those WIPs before the Tour De Fleece starts and spinning takes over my entire crafting life more than it already has for a month.

2 comments:

Ooooooh, I LOVE the color of your fingerless gloves! SO pretty! It's been so long since I've knitted. I wonder if I'd even remember how to cast on properly! This makes me wish I hadn't let my skills dwindle away! --Lisa

I love the color too, thanks!It's never too late to pick knitting back up. You could probably even find a group to help you get back into the groove. Know our local group always welcomes new people (and not JUST because it gives us new people to show our projects off to lol)